Management

In Management Issues

"Studies by Bruce Tulgan (Managing Generation X), Douglas Coupland (Generations X), and Australian company HCM Global Pty. Ltd., show the Generation X manger is typically mature beyond their years, very adaptable and flexible, and team oriented. They have high expectations of employees and don't buy into power structures, rather they prefer the project-based approach to work. Generation X managers need positive validation for their work or they will not hesitate to quit their jobs. They hate being micro-managed and want independence in their work, which may explain why so many of this generation have turned to entrepreneurship."

That, sadly, has not been MY experience. Rather what I find are a group of people who are unwilling or unable to understand that it is important to keep records and to maintain documentation on what is planned, what is being done and what is achieved. They seem to believe in a policy that as long as things work OK they will continue to work OK and that rules are strictly for those silly old duffers that came before them.

I have no problem either in principle or in practice with the notion that things could well be managed according to project management principles and practices. What I find difficult to accept that while espousing the concept of project management there is no adherence by many of the younger 'managers' I have encountered with the fundamentals of planning, resourcing and monitoring and reporting on the achievement of outcomes.

Holding people accountable for what they do is also perhaps an old fashioned idea but without it many businesses will simply grind to a halt - in my view.